And the dissenters weren’t only from Twitter, but came from his own party too.

According to the Mail Online, fellow Labour MP Neil Coyne said he believed he or his team had cut the photo deliberately after being criticised.

‘Assad apologists and other Communist airbrushers should have no part in the Labour Party,’ he said.

A spokesman for John McDonnell told metro.co.uk that the MP did not no te flags would be displayed.

‘John was speaking at a regional TUC event and had no prior knowledge of the flags that were above where he was speaking,’ he said.

What did John McDonnell say?

(Picture: Natasha Quarmby/REX/Shutterstock)

John McDonnell spoke to the crowd who were also addressed by Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the public sector union, the PCS.

According to the Labour Party website, the shadow chancellor was expected to say:

‘There are those in the Tory press who will wish to paint this gathering in a negative light, but this rally on a day like today is really about the positive contribution many hardworking people in our country make.

‘And how we can protect them, for the future of our country depends upon it. Our country is divided following the Brexit vote last year. And the Tories seek to divide it further.

‘Today’s deeply worrying revelations on the reckless handling of the EU negotiations only act as further proof for why we need a Labour Government leading the negotiations with our European allies to ensure jobs and living standards are protected.

(Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

(Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

(Picture:Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock)

‘Not a Tory Party prepared to take our country over a cliff-edge.’

He later added: ‘Today may be May 1, but let’s make June 8 the last day of Theresa May and her Tory Government.And it is vital we do this.

‘As this is a Tory Government that has presided over a country in which our nurses have to rely on foodbanks, yes that’s right. Nurses, the heroes of our NHS. Abandoned by this Government.

‘And all this Tory Prime Minister can say about it is there are “complex” reasons.’

‘We are all here today to speak up for the silent majority of working people that have never met an opinion pollster, but have experienced seven years of Tory austerity, and are now more than ever feeling the pinch of those policies.’